Awestruck
by MacFanFictionize
Summary: You often walk the streets to clear your mind, but one day, you come across a wallet. You bring it back to its rightful owner and since that moment on, your life will never be the same. / Involves Seth MacFarlane.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one: Passing** [Prompt 62]  
_Based upon the FanFiction 100 Challenge._

* * *

You're walking down the street. Today has been a busy day for you and you could use the relaxation. You've decided on a walk to clear your mind. The streets in LA are perfect to calm yourself down. Here, outside, you're one amongst many. Not just one in front of the class. No pressure, whatsoever. Nobody needs anything from you.

You sigh to yourself when you feel your phone vibrate in the front pocket of your jeans, interrupting you and your thoughts. You can never get some rest. Reluctantly, you pick it up, "Yes?"

You stress the following to come minutes as the other person on the line starts off with an enormous rant about what you need to accomplish in a short amount of time.

"Yes, I know, I'll see to it. Don't worry", you constantly reply, over and over as if it's becoming a mantra and slowly, you'll start to believe your own words while, in fact, it's just too much to do in little – too little - time.

You hang up, your gut wrenching. You don't feel good anymore. In fact, you feel much worse than you did when you started this walk. Hoping to get it off of your chest, you continue your walk anyways. You just love to stare and observe people. You come across many, different and unique ones – different hair colours, even pink, purple and green. Spiked hair, gorgeous, flowing hair. You could've sworn you've seen Princess Leia's buns in there, somewhere, as well. Not to mention that they all come in different sizes – little, tall, thick, thin, big nose, really small nose, "I've-had-too-much-to-drink-already" strawberry red nose, black, white or even a combination of the two. But they all seem to be frowning, mouths pressed into a hard line. And even when they smile at you, you can see through them, the fake smiles. They're all playing pretend. They're unhappy, frustrated, just like you. You can only see empty, shallow eyes pass you by. Eyes that are too busy, too preoccupied, perhaps even too selfish with their own little things to even pay you some attention, to notice you're watching them.

Suddenly, someone catches you off guard. He dares to look at you, even if it's only for a couple of seconds. He stares you right in the eyes and smiles warmly at you, smiles genuinely at you. You're not sure if it's directly at you or at the person on the other side of the line. Well, you realize the person on the other line is not even going to see it. It's a nice, welcome alternation and you smile back at him, just the same. He chuckles, showing his perfect white teeth. He passes you by and you find yourself to be awestruck.

You stop dead in your tracks, turn around to look at him, to watch him and see him disappear around the corner. For the briefest of moments, he, a complete stranger, captivated you. You smile to yourself and continue your journey ahead. But, before you can do so, something small and dark up ahead catches your attention. You lightly raise one of your eyebrows and look at the item lying on the ground a couple yards away. You quickly make your way over to it and as you approach it to pick it up, you realize it's someone's wallet. You look around and see if someone's staring at you as though you're a thief or perhaps you'll notice someone acting strange, as though they've just realized they dropped their wallet. But no one does.

You can't quite kill the sudden rush of curiosity surging through your veins. You just have to take a peek inside. It won't hurt anybody, right? Giving in, you slowly open the black leather wallet and you are immediately greeted by the smiling stranger you came across moments ago. This is his wallet and he probably didn't even realize he lost it.

You quickly put it in your pocket and start to run towards the same direction as the stranger went. You go around the corner and run as fast as you can. In the far distance, you can see him.

Just a little more!

When you finally reach him, you place a hand on his shoulder. He immediately directs his attention to you, lowering his cell phone and places his other hand on top of it. You stand before him, gasping for air yet you manage to lift your hands up, both index fingers pointing at him, non-verbally telling him he needs to wait and be patient. You don't even dare to look him in the eyes, yet he does. You can feel his eyes burning on your skin. He tries to look at you, make eye contact, but you won't allow him. He must be suspicious, but he doesn't say anything. To not make him wait anymore, you quickly fish his wallet out of your jeans with one hand and present it to him.

"You've, eh, lost your wallet", you manage to say as you hold the black item up in front of you, still a little out of breath.

He blinks a couple of times, regards the piece of leather as though he's unsure it's his. You flick it open with your middle and index finger. Immediately, his ID-card is shown.

"I, I… I suppose you're right", you hand him his wallet and he takes it, putting it back in his pocket, "Thank you". He looks back up again and you can see his mouth dropping slightly open. You can feel his eyes roaming your face, inspecting before locking gazes with you.

"You're not from around here, are you?", he suddenly asks, his voice a little lower.

"No", you respond and you wonder why he asks that. He must've noticed you're not wearing any kind of make-up. Or, perhaps, he noticed how your hair is in a messy bun, dangerously being upheld by a single pin. Or, perhaps, strangers returning found objects are extremely rare in this popular city.

You watch him lick his lips ever so slowly before biting down on them and you can feel your gut wrenching once more, but this time, it's not due to stress or agony. It's because him licking his lips does things to you, does impeccable things to you. You can feel the muscles clench lightly in your abdomen.

"Can I buy you a cup of coffee?", you abruptly ask, overtaken by emotions. A small smile appears on your face, trying to hide the fact that you can feel your cheeks redden just a little.

"Eh..", he whispers softly, seemingly out of words to speak while he directs his gaze towards the floor. You cock your head lightly and copy him, looking at the ground yourself, chewing onto your lip. You immediately realize he's not going to say yes. You look up to find him staring at you. You lightly shrug your shoulders, placing your hands on your back.

"Look, I'm…", you cut him off. He must've noticed the disappointment in your expression.

"It's all right. Don't feel obligated. And don't feel bad about it", you smile politely at him and see how his harsh expression filled with guilt softens, "Have a lovely day, Mr MacFarlane". He smiles back at you and you slowly make your way back to the main street, without looking over your shoulder – not even once, back to your walk. Even though, you don't really need it anymore. You feel as calm as a butterfly fluttering casually through the air.

But had you looked over your shoulder, you would've caught him doing just the same.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Strangers** [Prompt 25]

* * *

You sigh deeply to yourself, allowing yourself to fall harshly back into your seat. Your body aches from standing upright all day, not to mention your throat hurts from shouting so loud. You groan and reluctantly look at your over packed desk. It's full with paperwork and you have no idea where to begin. You prop your elbow on the wooden furniture, your head disappearing in your hands. You tiringly rub your eyes after collecting your thoughts. You love your job, you really do, but there is always a huge downside to doing what you love. The goddamn paperwork. You dislike it so much; you always end up hating yourself for procrastinating. But, there are deadlines and you are already pushing some. "Where to start?", you wonder. You sigh once more, sit up straight, straighten your clothes and grab the first paper on the left. When you finally get in the groove, convincing yourself it's not that bad after ten or so papers, there is a sudden knock on the door.

"Come in", you say absentmindedly, a hand stressfully going through your hair as your eyes cross the paper for any mistakes. You impatiently tap the pen against your lips. You don't even hear the door open ever so softly nor hear the footsteps entering the room. Another knock is heard, this time much louder and done so several times. You instantly look up and meet two bright, green eyes behind a pair of glasses with a thick, black frame, sloppy blonde hair and a shy, faint smile present.

"Hey Allison", he says, his knuckles still resting against the door. He seems hesitant to come in any further.

"Yes, Scott?"

"I…well, we…. we were just wondering if you are still coming… later on?"

You smile politely at him and nod once, "Yes, I am". Straightaway, the smile present on his face grows larger, wider. He seems relieved and extremely happy.

"I fear I'm going to be a bit later, though. I have a lot of paperwork to do", you say, looking around you, "a lot".

"Will you still be joining us for dinner?", he lightly bends his head to one side, firing his puppy eyes at me.

"I don't think so", his mouth is pressed into a hard line, a bit of a pout appears, "Sorry. But you can count me in for the drinks and karaoke!". My enthusiasm appears to be well played and infectious, for he immediately beams, grinning from ear to ear like an idiot.

"All right. See you then, Allison"

"See you then, Scott"

He quickly exits the room and you tend yourself back onto the battlefield in front of your eyes. You inhale deeply through your nose, closing your eyes. You let it set there, hoping to suppress the panic rising within. After a few seconds, you exhale, drawing a the deep breath and open your eyes again. With renewed courage, you firmly grab the correcting pen and start your (at least soon to be) victorious streak.

You're so absorbed in your work that you don't even notice the time flying by. When you have about three quarters of the work done, you sit back, stretching yourself. You manage to suppress a yawn and leisurely look at your watch.

7:18 PM.

Christ!

Right away, you jump up and stand on your feet. You grab your backpack and start throwing books, your pocket diary and pen case in it. You grab the stack of graded papers and quickly make your way over to the cabinet, disposing of the god-awful paper creatures there. You rush your way to the door, pass the desk and grab with a single hand the backpack and put it on.

You pull up at the parking lot of the café a solid fifteen minutes later. You get a parking ticket and rush inside. You nearly run the stairs down to what appears to be the basement, almost tripping over your own feet so fast you go.

"Hey, hey, look at that", someone from across the room shouts over the not so amazing singing abilities of the current singer, "She showed up after all". You recognize that voice. It and its possessor annoy you immensely. Slowly, you try to blend in and act casual. "You're definitely not out of breath", you think to yourself as you try to steady your breathing. You make your way over to them, through the dancing, encouraging, singing and jumping crowd, poking people with your elbows to get through. You mentally remark that you've just entered a gallery of an old ship or a funky looking pub in London. And possibly a whorehouse, you say, looking at the red lighting, setting the whole ambiance off. Definitely a whorehouse.

You manage to squeeze your way through the public and meet up with your colleagues. "We thought you weren't going to show up, teach", the same, irritating voice says and you give him a not so amused look.

"Very funny, David"

"I lost 50 bucks to Scott because of you, what are you going to do about it?", a sly smirk tugs at the corners of his lips, his tongue teasingly laps his lips. You fight back the urge to roll your eyes. This guy has been perving all over you ever since you set foot in the institution.

"Shouldn't place wagers on my behalf then. I'm quite unpredictable"

David scoffs, "Yeah, right. You're a party-pooper. You never join us in social gatherings. Why should you now?"

"Sounds to me you're the party-pooper here. Want me gone, David? I can leave, if you insist", you lift an eyebrow at him while throwing the backpack off of your shoulders, letting it hang from an nearby empty chair.

"Wow, wow", he holds up his hands in defeat as the others shoot him angry stares, "I'm, I'm glad you're here, Allison"

"Thought so", you say, placing a hand on Scott's shoulder before taking a seat beside him. You wink at his direction and his frown relaxes. He smirks back at you. He leans in and whispers in your ear, "I'm glad you came".

"I bet you did. You just made profit off of me."

Scott lets out a soft chuckle, "How about I buy you a drink?"

"You better buy me several drinks for that, you bastard", you say, grinning like a fool. In the corner of your eyes, you can see a jealous David looking at the two of you. Scott takes the order of the rest of the group and heads off to get the drinks. You find comfort in Vanessa, who's sitting at the other side of Scott, hoping you can manage to steer away from David's advances, no matter how obnoxious you find her from time to time. Soon, Scott returns with the drinks. You spend the next hour or two sipping the craziest kind of drinks that Scott gets you. All involve the word "Monkey" and for some reason, you don't consider it to be odd as you're currently in café Brass Monkey.

The clock hits 09:00PM and the announcer takes the stage, well, sort off, there isn't an actual stage in this karaoke bar. He takes a hold of the microphone, cheeks reddened as much as possible and he's sweating like a mad man, "Ladies and gentlemen, please give a round of applause for our next singer: Mr. Seth MacFarlane!"

Quickly, the overweight man hurries off of the stage and a tall, neatly dressed man approaches the microphone. You applaud the dark silhouette enlightened by the red ambiance, encourage him, hoping he's not as bad as the rest, even though you realize you vaguely remember his name. It rings a bell, somewhere, but you're not quite sure where to place it just yet.

You take a sip of the drink Scott has placed in front of you ten or so minutes ago. The next singer takes this moment to start singing the lyrics perfectly from the song "Drops of Jupiter", sung by Train. That deep, low voice, it just drips with sex. There's a certain roughness to it, something edgy, yet it's impeccably smooth at the same time, performing each tune with surprising flawlessness. You recognize it in a heartbeat. It's the stranger you came across two weeks ago. It must be him. There's no other way.

You slowly turn around, heart starting to beat faster and when you look at him, your suspicions are immediately confirmed. The spiked hair with a small ducktail in the front, the clever brown eyes, the small yet perfect lips with the most amazing white teeth, a little scruff, the strong jawline. It's him, all right. Your heart seems to skip a beat when you regard him. Thankfully, he's too absorbed into the song to notice you staring. Every once in a while, he opens his eyes, but most of the time he has them closed. He's giving the song his all and he does it skillfully, a single eyebrow lifting whenever he hits a note that's a little higher than the rest. You, on the other hand, seem to have forgotten how to even breath properly and nearly choke, gasping for air. You cough, regain and attempt to steady your breathing while you still gaze at him. He's not in his casual outfit anymore. He's not wearing a simple white t-shirt with jeans below. He said goodbye to the sneakers and switched everything for a black button-up and black jacket, with matching pants. His shoes are patent leather dress shoes. You swallow hard. He's extremely handsome, even more so than you suspected before. You secretly wished he agreed upon having coffee with you. Damn.

You feel yourself warming up and it's not the liquid taking control over your body. Your cheeks must be flustered and the muscles within your lower abdomen are clenching. You take the drink from the table and chug it down in one go.

"Woo, Allison, you go girl!", Vanessa yells out and you can feel everyone's eyes at the table burning curiously at you. They've never seen you like this. You cough again and again, your throat attempts to get adjusted to the strong liquor but you know it won't. Your throat burns lightly and you stare back at Seth. Abruptly, he opens his eyes again and stares directly at you. You make eye contact with him and you feel your sudden bravery from two weeks ago quickly seep away from your body. You can see the surprise in his expression as he, too, seems to recognize you. And you could've sworn you just saw the faintest of smiles on his face!

Soon afterwards, he finishes the song and goes back to his seat in one of the most quiet, furthest away corners. Your eyes never leave him, though. You watch him carefully. You need to see where he's seated, you need to know. All of the sudden, he looks over his shoulder and immediately stares at your direction. Right away you turn around and pretend to be in deep conversation with your group. "Did he notice?", you wonder. The rest laughs and you laugh along, even though you haven't got a clue about what they're actually laughing about. You question your guts, daring it to peek, but it refuses. What if he's still looking at you?

"Oh my goodness", Vanessa suddenly says, catching your attention as she pretends to cool herself down by waving her hand across her face, "That man, Seth MacFarlane, he is something, isn't he?"

"You know him?", you curiously ask her.

She scoffs, looking at you as though you've just said the most stupid thing ever, "Do I know him? Do I know him?! Who doesn't?". She ends with a laugh, mocking you, you're sure.

"He's currently one of the most wanted billionaires of whole Hollywood. Everybody wants a piece of him", Scott jumps in, putting an end to her mocking and you mentally thank him for it.

"I sure do", Vanessa says as she affectionately stares in his direction. You slowly turn around to check if he's still looking at you, but he's not. You feel a little disappointed and quickly direct yourself back at your companions, "How about another round? My treat". You could use the booze to make you feel better, even if it's just a little. The rest cheers loudly and you get up. As you make your way over to the bar, you realize you've just given yourself an excuse to close the proximity between the two of you. Your gut pokes you. How about you casually walk over to him, at your sexiest and ask him for an autograph? Maybe touch his arm with your boob? See if he does recognize you? However tempting, you erase it from your mind. He was clear. No coffee. Not interested.

You thank the bartender and make your way back to the table with a full tray of strong liquor.

"And I said to the kid, 'If you don't like it, you can just fucking leave'"

"What did he do?"

"He slowly took a seat. You should've seen his face, turned as red as a freakin' tomato!"

The two older men laugh as hard as they can. "You're setting such a good example, David. I hope you win the Teacher of the Year award", Vanessa sarcastically tells him as you hand him his drink.

"Well, you know me, always a good role model"

"That must be why your last three-monthly review came back as insufficient, right?", she bites back. David sits back in the chair and folds his arms before his chest, "You're a bitch, Vanessa, you know that? And it wasn't insufficient".

"I know", she says proudly before her mouth suddenly drops open. Her eyes grow larger as they quickly shift to the left and seem to be following something. You look to your right, mimicking her and are immediately greeted by two brown eyes and a soft, warm smile passing you by.

"Is this seat taken?", he says, placing one of his hands on top of the backrest while he's carrying a drink of his own in the other hand.

"N-No, I mean, yes, but they're currently dancing. I'll doubt they'll be back soon and otherwise they can just pull up another chair", Vanessa responds, her eyes practically popping out of their sockets.

You hand out the remaining drinks to the rest as he slowly sits down. As soon as he does, he looks up and stares you right in the eyes. You notice his drink is nearly empty.

"What are you drinking?", your bravery is definitely back.

He holds the glass up, swirls its content around and looks at it, "Jack Daniels. On the rocks". He directs his gaze back at you, looking quite intense. It sends a shiver down your spine. You quickly nod and excuse yourself. You hastily make your way towards the bar and order his drink. All of the sudden, you smirk to yourself, "Say, Patrick, do you have a pen and a piece of paper for me?"

"Sure", the bartender says and provides you with the items. You quickly scribble something down onto the piece of paper and give the pen back. You then fold the paper a couple of times before putting it in the pocket of your jeans. You pay for the drink and hurry back to the table. There, Seth is patiently waiting for you, but you notice most of the rest, aside from David and Vanessa who are still bickering, have gone to the dance floor. You hand Seth his drink and perhaps he does it deliberately, but when he reaches out to take it from you, his fingers brush with yours, making your muscles clench once more.

"Thank you", he says, his chocolate brown pools staring deeply into your eyes.

"You're welcome", you say, losing yourself in his beautiful eyes. A small smile creeps up. You quickly look away and take a seat across from him.

"What are you drinking?," he suddenly asks, "It's… pink".

You chuckle a little at his remark. "Yes, it is. It appears to be 'Pink Silk Panties'." You carefully watch him, placing emphasis on the name of the drink just to tease him, to test him out and you can see him nearly choking on his drink. He slowly spits it out, "Excuse me?".

"Pink. Silk. Panties"

You watch how he tries to regain his composure. Apparently, you're not the only one suffering from unordinary heat. He surely must be imagining things as he briefly looks away, licking his lips. When he directs his gaze at you again, he catches you smirking.

"I've also had 'Red Headed Monkey Slut', 'Spank The Monkey', 'Monkey Bite', 'Dirty Monkey' and 'Sexy Monkey'. I must say, though, that 'Hornie Monkey' is my ultimate favorite", you continue and carefully watch him shifting a little in his seat. There's definitely a heat problem here. David takes this moment as the perfect time to get a little more acquainted with you. He switches seats so that he's sitting next to you and places a hand on your thigh, a little too close to your womanhood for your liking. You chew onto your lower lip, hoping to fight back the surging anger.

"David. If you don't remove your hand", you blink a couple of times, pausing when you feel his hand creep closer towards your lady parts, "now, so help me God, I will hurt you. Badly".

"Oh, come on, baby. You know you want this"

"I really don't", you say and grab his hand and place it on the table. You look up and catch Seth frowning deeply. He seems a bit agitated. Soon enough, David places his hand back onto your thigh, this time on your inner thigh. All of the sudden, he starts to lean in with pursed lips, ready to kiss you. You press your hand against his face as the other one removes his hand on your thigh again. You push his face as far away as you can.

"Dumpling, don't fight it. You know you've had feelings for me ever since we met".

"I think you got it the other way around"

This is going wrong, you mentally remark. The alcohol has killed your fighting spirit. You feel weak, fragile. Abruptly, he grabs both of your hands in one of his big ones and attempts to kiss you again. Seth quickly stands up and grabs David by the collar, pulling him away from you with his strength. It amazes you, David is a big builded, broad man.

"The lady clearly said no. You 'ought to respect that, fella"

Seth is standing between you and David, acting as a barrier. You peek around him to look at David and see the fear in his eyes.

"Yes", he quickly says.

"Beat it", Seth demands.

"Yes, Sir"

Within seconds of being let go, David rushes towards the dance scenery and starts to mingle with people there. You direct your gaze at Seth and watch how he takes a seat beside you. You see how his expression softens.

"Thank you", you say, feeling extremely appreciative. He smiles warmly at you, "Don't mention it". You smile back at him as he stares intensely into your blue eyes once more.

"You have the most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen", he says soft, almost in a whisper and for a moment, you think you've misheard him.

"I'm sorry?"

"I said, 'you have the most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen'", he repeats himself while he cups your face with one of his hands. His thumb caresses your cheek.

"Am I embarrassing you?", he softly asks, eyes lightening up with amusement.

"Just a little. Attractive men with a good fashion sense always flirt with me in shady places. Happens all the time," you sarcastically say, playfully rolling your eyes with a smirk plastered upon your face, he bursts out of laughter, "How did you know?"

"You're flustered", he says as brown eyes trail downwards towards your lips. He brushes his thumb across your lips, parting them lightly. Before you can even respond, someone grabs a hold of his arm and drags him along to the dance floor, placing a hand underneath his chin and forces him to stare at her. You didn't even hear them come up to you two and you can't quite see who it is as it's swamped with people. Frustrated, you place your hands onto your hips.

"Allison", someone calls out to you and turns you around. Instantly, you're greeted by a huge grin emphasized by the brightest of red lipstick, twinkling hazel eyes and long, curling blonde hair.

"Something wrong, Denise?"

"No. I just thought you wanted to be home early"

You frown, "How late is it?"

"10:23PM"

"Damn. I need to go", you recall the remaining stack of papers on your desk. You run a hand through your hair and look around you, grabbing your backpack from the chair as you try to collect your thoughts. You stop in front of your friend, "Could you do something for me, Denise?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Can you give this to that man over there?," you point at Seth's direction, who's not so eagerly dancing with some female and reach for the paper in your pocket, handing it to her, "I'm sure he'll be joining the table soon. Could you please do this for me?"

"Will do. I'm so glad you could make it", she puts the paper in her pocket and places both hands on your shoulders, squeezing them lightly.

"Yeah, me too"

"Bye honey"

You smile at her when she lets go of you. You direct yourself at the dance floor for a brief moment, staring at him while he still has his eyes locked with someone else before heading out the door and into the dark night.

When the group sits back down at the table, your absence is noticed by all as there's one empty chair that still needs to be filled and no backpack to be seen. After everyone has looked at each other, they realize who exactly they're missing.

"Where's Allison?", Scott is the one to ask.

"Oh", Denise chimes in, almost as if she's forgotten, "She left. She still had a lot of work to do and wanted to go home early. She wanted me to give you this". Denise hands Seth the note. Carefully, as though he's holding something precious and easily to break, he opens it.

_**Still bought you 'coffee'**_

He smirks to himself after reading it, "Allison, right?"


End file.
